The Transgender Bathroom Block Is Proof Hillary Clinton Needs My Vote

On Sunday, a federal judge in Texas blocked the Obama administration's transgender bathroom guidelines, which would have given transgender students the right to use whatever restroom at school corresponds to their gender identity. Judge Reed O'Connor, who was appointed by George W. Bush, ruled in favor of the 13 states challenging the Department of Education's guideline, but the decision will have repercussions beyond the plaintiff states. The ruling marks a victory for social conservatives, but people who care about trans rights should take it as a warning and a reminder of how important this presidential election is.

By coincidence, this decision came down just as Matthew Yglesias published a piece at Vox.com, “Hillary Clinton will likely have a unique chance to remake the federal judiciary.” In it, he asserts that "an odd confluence of circumstances — the elimination of the filibuster for judicial nominees followed by the 2014 midterms leading to an utterly intransigent GOP Senate majority — in President Barack Obama’s second term means that a Clinton administration and a Democratic Senate will face an unusually large number of vacancies and have an unusually easy time filling them.”

While I’m not yet in a place where I’m willing to take Democratic victories in the White Houseorthe Senate for granted, Yglesias’ point is well-taken. I take comfort in my belief that most Clinton judicial appointees would be less likely to issue such a tone-deaf ruling on LGBTQ rights as I've seen come from O'Connor.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Voters can be so focused on the immediately pressing topics and concerns that court appointments are rarely decisive electoral factors. Rulings like the one from O'Connor remind us that they should be. The long-term effects of judicial appointments can’t be overstated, and in the frenzy of presidential electoral politics, it can be hard to lose sight of the long game. But for anyone who is thinking about taking their (totally valid) dissatisfaction with the Democrats to their polling location, the question might be as simple as this: Do you want more judges like Reed O’Connor, or fewer?